Broccoli and Stitches
by Zimileih
Summary: Jean makes broccoli and it is not well recieved


Eren was out again, it seemed, as Jean Kirschtein walked through the entryway of the apartment that the two shared. Jean had called out Eren's name and received no response. It was expected, he thought, Eren was typically out at this time anyways; he would be back by dinner in an hour or so. It was now that crossed the blond boy's mind to make a dinner for the both of them. He liked to do things occasionally for Eren, and though he wasn't the very best and knowing what Eren wanted, his gifts were usually well received.

Jean wasn't a great cook, but far better than Eren. He wasn't very good at cooking anything from scratch and usually stuck to boxed, canned, or frozen foods. Neither of them seemed to mind, but occasionally Jean wished to cook something a little more original or fresh than their typical meals. One day a man just decides 'enough ramen and mac n cheese I can do better than this!'. Today was one of those days.

For a fleeting second, Jean considered making Eren's favorite food. It was a certain horror when he realized that he did not even know what his boyfriend enjoyed eating above other foods. It was such a basic fact about a person, something you would ask if you were trying to get to know someone, and yet it was something he didn't even know about his partner that he had been living with for quite some time. He had to calm himself with a reminder that Eren never quite seemed to pay attention to what he put in his mouth and just ate it. This fact almost never failed unless Eren was feeling down or sick; stick a plate of food in front of him, count down from ten and it's gone by the time you reach zero. And so it was decided, after a brief moment of thought, that Jean would cook his own favorite food instead; broccoli and cheese. Eren won't mind, he thought, he isn't very picky. The boy often wondered if Eren even had taste buds, for he could eat things Jean wouldn't even begin to force down.

"Yeah he won't mind," Jean repeated this time out loud for confirmation.

Pulling the door away from the small refrigerator frame, the honey color eyes peered in, pulling out a small green bag of fresh broccoli that he had purchased earlier that week. Happily, the boy ran the pickings of broccoli under the flowing water off his sink and then rested them on a cutting board. It took a while to find a knife, as the two boys rarely had need for them and only had a few butter knives and a steak knife; naturally Jean went for the sharper one. He continued back to the cutting board, slicing the broccoli into smaller pieces with a steak knife; a culinary disaster.

Boiling water awaited thee freshly chopped broccoli, placed in a steamer with the timer set on six minutes. During the wait, Jean started melting the cheese into milk, creating a sauce by the time the broccoli was bright green and soft.

A knock echoed through the small living space. Then again and again, this time harder and in effect louder.

"I'm home!" a voice yelled from the other side, muffled only slightly by the thin door; it was Eren.

"You have a key," Jean muttered, unlocking and opening the door for the brown haired boy.

"Yeah, but why would I bother when you're already here?"

"True," Jean responded softly and shrugged. Suddenly, his face and eyes lit with excitement. "I made dinner!" Eren's scowl turned into a grin as the words left Jean's mouth.

"What'd you make!?"

"You'll see!"

The two boys entered their tiny kitchen, Eren sitting at the coffee table while Jean prepared the food. When the blond returned, Eren's excitement and smile turned into a huge grimace of disgust and disappointment.

"Is that… Broccoli…?"

Jean apparently had not noticed the change of face and tone on Eren due to his pride and excitement. "Sure is!"

Eren wasn't sure if he was disgusted, angry, or sad for Jean actually liking broccoli.

"Something wrong?" Jean asked through a mouth full of the green substance. He glanced at the untouched bowl. "You waiting to pray or something? You didn't' strike me as the type, but if you wanna…" The boy's fork clicked in the bowl as he placed it down, clasping his hands.

"Jean, what the hell. We eat dinner together almost every day; why never pray before our meals. Why are you acting like you don't know this"

"It…. Something wrong, Eren?" The snap in the other's tone was almost chilling to Jean.

"Yeah. There is. It's this." He motioned to the bowl with tanned hands. "What is THIS!? Who do you think I am!?"  
"It's… Broccoli… You're Eren…?"

"Thanks Capitan obvious; thanks a lot. Quite frankly, thank you very much for this green shit."

Jean looked at the brown haired boy in confusion. "Eren, did something happen today?"

"This," he retorted, once again motioning to the bowl.

"I thought you'd like it."

"Like it!? Of course I'd like it! IN THE TRASH!"

"Eren please."

"DON'T YOU 'EREN PLEASE' ME AFTER MAKING THIS GREEN CRAP. I'M GOING TO CALL SOME EXORCISTS OR SOMETHING TO CLEANZE THIS HOUSE OF THIS FILTH."

"Eren sto-"

"SHUT UP! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH AN EXORCISM WILL COST!?"

"It's broccoli… It's not a demon… It's not possessed…"

"SAYS THE MAN WHO BROUGH THE DAMN STUFF IN HERE!"

"You're joking… right?" Jean gave Eren a look, upset and hurt. He wanted Eren to break into a fit of laughter about how he fooled him but it apparently wasn't happening; Eren was being serious and Jean was confused.

Suddenly Jean saw a blur of green and white flying through the air, not giving him enough to react as it impacted his right cheek and the sound of shattering glass echoed through the room. A mess of broccoli and white shards of ceramic bowl sat on the floor near where they had impacted. The blond haired boy did not move, just sat in shock, eyes completely zoned out and lost.

"So much for unbreakable," Eren scoffed, with a hint of remorse and embarrassment in his tone as he alluded to the supposed unbreakable quality of the ceramic bowl that just shattered. His teal eyes had not looked up from the floor.

Pale fingers inched up Jean's face as he finally broke the shock and moved. His fingers submerged in liquid and suddenly hit something hard that made the boy yell out in pain. Eren's eyes snapped up as he heard the cry and whispered "Oh my god… I wasn't aiming for you I swear…"

"THEN WHY DID IT HIT ME!?" Jean cried out in pain and fear, his bloody fingers trembling on his face along with the rest of his body. A drop rolled off his chin on the small wooden table, bouncing and then staining it. "EREN DO SOMETHING." He screamed.

"I-I'll go get the bandages," The other stammered.

"EREN IT'S NOT GOING TO STOP BLEEDING WITH A FLIPPING BANDAID GET THE CAR RIGHT NOW." His eyes were getting cloudy with tears, the sizable white shard still stuck in his face.

"W-where are we going?" Eren was shaking almost as much as Jean, standing beside his chair and grabbing the keys off the table.

"THE EMERGENCY ROOM YOU IDIOT. I NEED STITCHES IMMEDIATELY!"

The two were shaken and stumbled their way to the car, Jean gripping his face, but the blood was still flowing, only a little slower than it had been before, but more when his fingers accidentally hit against the ceramic shard. Eren turned to see Jean as he unlocked the car. "You need to stop that blood…"

"Huh, ya think?" Eren broke a weak smile; at least Jean still had a wit to him. He started ripping at his t-shirt and then handed the fabric to Jean who pressed it around the piece of white glass that was lodged in the side of his face.

The ride, though short, seemed brutally long to the two, especially with Eren's hands shaking the steering wheel. The car was filled with the sounds of Eren's panicked breathing and Jean's cries and hisses of pain. The blond, feeling slight effects of blood loss, was taken into a room where his cheek was numbed and then the shard was removed. Eren waited nervously outside, in tears as he had to explain to one of the workers what happened.

"And… You threw the bowl at him…?" She asked, staring at Eren with a baffled look. The boy just whimpered and nodded

"I- I swear I didn't mean it."

"Uh-huh."

"I wasn't aiming for him!"

"And that's why you threw it?" Eren huffed at her response, realizing that he couldn't make the situation seem any better because it was completely unjustified. He wiped his teal eyes of tears and then asked the lady if he would be fine. She just nodded, telling him that he only needed a few stitches and to get all the shards of glass removed from his face. The woman also remarked how lucky it was that Jean had closed his eyes or he could have been in a worse condition. Eren gulped and looked away.

The blond emerged from the room fine. His face was still numb and he had a bandage wrapped over his cheek, but overall alive and well. Eren on the other hand, was not. Tears welled up in his eyes the second he saw Jean, running over to him and grabbing him in a hug.

"Get off of me," Jean growled, shoving Eren away. The boy whimpered and looked at the floor.

"I'm sorry, Jean."

"Yeah, you better be."

"I mean it," His voice whispered out in desperation, wanting forgiveness.

"You will mean it when you see the bill; which, for your information, is more than an exorcism."

Eren did not respond, only walked out to the car, unlocking it and opening the passenger door for Jean who refused to say anything as he buckled himself. The car ride filled was with nothing but dead silence.

"Jean," Eren whispered, watching him get out of the car and slam the door behind him. By the time he got to the apartment door, Jean had already entered and through testing the door he realized it was locked. Softly, his fingers knocked against the thin door. No response. He glanced down at the key in his hand and knocked again. Biting his lip, he wiped the mist from his eyes and unlocked the car; Eren didn't want to sleep in the apartment if Jean didn't want him there.

The next morning Eren woke up to a terrible back and neck ache. He had barely gotten any sleep and silently hoped Jean had forgiven him as he walked up to the apartment door. This time he twisted the key in the slot to open the door, seeing the golden eyed boy wincing as he ate a piece of toast.

"What'd you go sleep with another boy since I didn't talk to you, huh?" The tone used by Jean pierced Eren through the heart.

"I slept in the car," he whispered weakly.

"Sure you did," Jean muttered irritably though he seemed pained as he spoke. Eren couldn't look him in the eyes; never feeling so remorseful and useless.

"I didn't mean it, Jean," His voice cracked as he spoke.

"You did at the time."

"Maybe… Maybe I was, but I wasn't thinking; please just forgive me Jean, please."

"You know, I've been thinking about our relationship…"

"Jean what are you going to say- Jean please don't."

"Hmmm…." The light skinned boy muttered as if deep in thought. He looked into Eren's eyes and realized how sincere and remorseful Eren was. The boy had never looked this way before; he was never the type to ask, and especially not beg, for forgiveness. Suddenly the wall of Jean's grudges was broken. His golden eyes softened and then filled with tears. "Eren," he choked out. "I'm sorry for holding a grudge; I'm sorry for making you feel bad; I'm sorry I didn't just forgive you."

"Jean…" Eren's eyes lit up with joy as tears rolled down his face. The blond's pale hand reached out towards the other's and Eren reached out to hold it in his own. His voice cracked as he spoke out:

"Thank you."


End file.
